James Franco seeks $500K in crowd-funding

NEW YORK – James Franco is trying to raise $500,000 to bankroll a trilogy of movies. Franco on Monday night started a campaign on Indiegogo, a crowd-funding alternative to Kickstarter that allows people to keep the money they raise even if the project doesn’t come to fruition. Franco isn’t trying to direct the films; he’s raising money so that a collection of young filmmakers can adapt his 2011 short story collection, “Palo Alto.”